Four Nights in Lijiang?
Jan 5th, 2008, 10:48 AM
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Four Nights in Lijiang?
Planning 4 nights-3 full days during first week of March ..looking for suggestions on day trips/treks and any private guides.
- monasteries
- snow mountain
- tiger leaping gorge
Will the weather be an obstacle in early March?
- monasteries
- snow mountain
- tiger leaping gorge
Will the weather be an obstacle in early March?
Jan 5th, 2008, 04:56 PM
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I recently visited Lijiang and Shangri La(Zhongdian) and I would like to recommend the following places or activities, random listing and not in the order of importance:
1/. Lijiang "Old Town" - a lot of fun walking, shopping and eating around there.
2/. Shuhe "Old Town" - smaller than Lijiang's but more unique IMO.
3/. Jade Dragon Snow Mountain - take the chair lift up for a great view.
4/. "Impression of Lijiang" show is another must IMO and it's on the way to or from the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.
5/. Visit a rural Naxi village.
6/. Tibetan temple - I forgot the name but it's in the general vicinity of the government run trout farm(perhaps your guide will know if you mentioned that).
7/. Tiger Leaping Gorge from the "Lijiang" side of the embankment where they have a long paved walkway.
8/. Black Dragon Pool was nice for a walk and some picture taking.
All the above will depend on the weather as Jade Dragon and TLG are best for visiting when the weather is nice.
To put all this together and to be able to do it all at a relaxed pace I highly recommend that you get a guide and a car and driver. Our guide was perfect, a young lady with quite good English and she seems to know what we like and how to put everything together. Very pleasant appearance and energetic but very hard to get a hold of! Her name is "Kathy" and her contact information are: Mobile #: 13988845153 Email: [email protected]
I have some pictures from Lijiang and if you would like to see then click on the following link: http://khun-pook.smugmug.com/
1/. Lijiang "Old Town" - a lot of fun walking, shopping and eating around there.
2/. Shuhe "Old Town" - smaller than Lijiang's but more unique IMO.
3/. Jade Dragon Snow Mountain - take the chair lift up for a great view.
4/. "Impression of Lijiang" show is another must IMO and it's on the way to or from the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.
5/. Visit a rural Naxi village.
6/. Tibetan temple - I forgot the name but it's in the general vicinity of the government run trout farm(perhaps your guide will know if you mentioned that).
7/. Tiger Leaping Gorge from the "Lijiang" side of the embankment where they have a long paved walkway.
8/. Black Dragon Pool was nice for a walk and some picture taking.
All the above will depend on the weather as Jade Dragon and TLG are best for visiting when the weather is nice.
To put all this together and to be able to do it all at a relaxed pace I highly recommend that you get a guide and a car and driver. Our guide was perfect, a young lady with quite good English and she seems to know what we like and how to put everything together. Very pleasant appearance and energetic but very hard to get a hold of! Her name is "Kathy" and her contact information are: Mobile #: 13988845153 Email: [email protected]
I have some pictures from Lijiang and if you would like to see then click on the following link: http://khun-pook.smugmug.com/
Jan 6th, 2008, 04:51 AM
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Great photos...thank you. What is the trip out to TLG like? Without the time to do the 2-3 day trek (which I'm very bumped about), do you get a good feel of the gorge on a day trip--worth the time?
Thxxx
Thxxx
Jan 6th, 2008, 05:12 PM
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I can't really comment since I'm not a trekker but for me a 1 hour stop seems about right. We were on the other side of the embankment, we stop by on our way to Shangri La, and had a lot of stairs to climb down to get near to the white water. There are coolies who will "carry" you for a fee if you feel tired going back up. The Lijiang side of the embankment did look more of a nicer side to visit and walk(the paved walkway was several kilometers long).
Feb 28th, 2008, 03:09 AM
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Hi Hanuman,
Is Shangrila not so interesting judging to many of your communications with other members.You did not talk much about Shangri la.
6 of us (age between 55 and 72) can't decide if we should proceed to Shangrila or just stay put in Lijiang visiting Mt. Yulong, TLG and other places near Lijiang and spend the rest of the 5 days in Lijiang leisurely.
If we do go to Shangrila in mid May (as earlier dates would be too cold), we are thinking of going to Pudacuo National Park covering Bita Lake, Shudu Lake, Napa Lake and Songzalin Monastery.
Please tell if the walk in the Pudacuo National park easy or very straineous and if it is alright for elderly people. I know there are environmental friendly bus for shuttle, but how about the rest of the places when there is no bus to take us?
If we so decide to go to Shangrila, we will hire a van and drive to Shangrila but will fly from Shangrila to Kunming before we return home country.
If we choose not to visit Shangrila, then we will go to tour Yunnan in mid April. Therefore please give me any advise as soon as possible as I need to book my flight tickets real soon.
Thank you in anticipation.
Is Shangrila not so interesting judging to many of your communications with other members.You did not talk much about Shangri la.
6 of us (age between 55 and 72) can't decide if we should proceed to Shangrila or just stay put in Lijiang visiting Mt. Yulong, TLG and other places near Lijiang and spend the rest of the 5 days in Lijiang leisurely.
If we do go to Shangrila in mid May (as earlier dates would be too cold), we are thinking of going to Pudacuo National Park covering Bita Lake, Shudu Lake, Napa Lake and Songzalin Monastery.
Please tell if the walk in the Pudacuo National park easy or very straineous and if it is alright for elderly people. I know there are environmental friendly bus for shuttle, but how about the rest of the places when there is no bus to take us?
If we so decide to go to Shangrila, we will hire a van and drive to Shangrila but will fly from Shangrila to Kunming before we return home country.
If we choose not to visit Shangrila, then we will go to tour Yunnan in mid April. Therefore please give me any advise as soon as possible as I need to book my flight tickets real soon.
Thank you in anticipation.
Feb 28th, 2008, 04:48 AM
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Hi Leisurely,
I didn't find Shangri La that interesting but there are people who do like the town. The monastery is very nice and the Tibetan buildings and houses are beautiful. The "Old Town" is a cheap, and on a much smaller scale, recreation of the old town in Lijiang. The rest of the town is rather dusty and bland lacking any thing that I thought was worth visiting - again just my opinion.
The surrounding parks were nice but not worth spending a whole day at and nothing different from the other national parks around the world except for the herds of Yaks. By the way, just a warning, if you do go I would stay away from the Yak butter tea - yuk! The walk around the park is not that strenuous and they have a wooden walkway for he tourists to walk so you can't really go off on your own and explore the area. The buses will take you around the different location within the park and you can just hop on and off any bus that come by.
I don't know how fit you guys are but I did suffer from the altitude sickness and so did most of the other tourists I talked to. We flew from Kunming to Lijiang and drove to Shangri La and flew back to Kunming from Diqing(Shangri La's airport).
If you are planning on spending a lot of time around there, more than 5 or 6 days then Shangri La might be worth a visit for a couple of nights and the drive itself was not bad with spectacular views. If you only have about 5 or 6 days then I would spend the whole time around Lijiang.
Let me know if you have any other question.
I didn't find Shangri La that interesting but there are people who do like the town. The monastery is very nice and the Tibetan buildings and houses are beautiful. The "Old Town" is a cheap, and on a much smaller scale, recreation of the old town in Lijiang. The rest of the town is rather dusty and bland lacking any thing that I thought was worth visiting - again just my opinion.
The surrounding parks were nice but not worth spending a whole day at and nothing different from the other national parks around the world except for the herds of Yaks. By the way, just a warning, if you do go I would stay away from the Yak butter tea - yuk! The walk around the park is not that strenuous and they have a wooden walkway for he tourists to walk so you can't really go off on your own and explore the area. The buses will take you around the different location within the park and you can just hop on and off any bus that come by.
I don't know how fit you guys are but I did suffer from the altitude sickness and so did most of the other tourists I talked to. We flew from Kunming to Lijiang and drove to Shangri La and flew back to Kunming from Diqing(Shangri La's airport).
If you are planning on spending a lot of time around there, more than 5 or 6 days then Shangri La might be worth a visit for a couple of nights and the drive itself was not bad with spectacular views. If you only have about 5 or 6 days then I would spend the whole time around Lijiang.
Let me know if you have any other question.
Mar 2nd, 2008, 03:03 PM
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I can understand how many wouldn't share in my enthusiasm for the place, but I was completely captivated by Shangri La. I had booked 2 nights, afraid that I'd be ready to leave after one. But instead, life imitated art and I felt like Conway in James Hilton's novel, wishing to extend my stay forever.
I did end up staying one additional night, and I loved every minute of my time there
I did end up staying one additional night, and I loved every minute of my time there
